Close your eyes...

It was 1992, my friends and I started going to raves. The music was not only futuristic: Detroit Techno, Acid House, and Hardcore Breakbeat; they were also new genres of music I had never heard. I was not only inspired to make music but to find as much as i could about it. [The rhythms and bass lines were beguiling and hypnotic.]

A year later, while visiting Melissa at her new digs, her then boyfriend Scott played me a song that would stop me dead in my tracks. It was this hybrid of breakbeats, Brian Eno style pads, spaced out bleeps, cartoon vocals, and tough stabs of Detroit Techno style synthesizers. The song was ACEN's "Close your eyes". It perfectly captured the spirit of that time in dance music.

The dark beauty of that track was brought back to my attention today after 14 years [!!!!] by an amazing update by Speakerjunk. Enjoy and remember...

The original Acen "Close your eyes" 1993

The update Speakerjunk "Close your eyes" 2007

The links are hosted by Zshare. When you click on the link, keep looking for the download icons.

---Mr. Mark

Adventures in Amazonia, Part Two: Martin Rev

Alongside Alan Vega, Martin Rev formed the late-70's New York band Suicide. That fact alone was reason enough for me to buy one of Rev’s solo works, “Clouds of Glory,” an album recorded mostly between 1981 & 1984. Another reason? It was only a penny on Amazon, plus shipping of course.

The exact reason why I bought Rev’s album though was once again because of Little Hits. Back when I religiously visited that blog everyday, I downloaded his 1979 single “Mari,” which is an incredible Electro-Pop song, that caused a friend of mine to recently joke that “wow, those Postal Service dudes totally ripped this guy off.” That song is definitely poppy and even sort of bouncy, but the real appeal of it to me though is that it has a whimsical quality to it that’s not unlike the songs of Mort Garson.

The Verdict: Well I guess the best possible thing that could of happened would have been if “Cloud of Glory” were jam-packed with dreamy Synth-Pop songs like “Mari,” but it is instead filled mostly with what I would call Proto-Industrial tracks, which bare a mild resemblance to the soundtracks of many 80's Horror films. It’s not a total lost cause for me though, the track “Whisper” is right up my alley, and I’ve included that song below as well one of the other tracks from the album that better represents it.

Martin Rev:
Mari (mp3) from “Martin Rev”

Whisper (mp3) from “Clouds of Glory”
Rocking Horse (mp3) from “Clouds of Glory”

Suicide:
Cheree (mp3) from Suicide’s S.T.

Mort Garson:
Plantasia (mp3)

–Popkoff

Walking on Thin Ice

"Walking on Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono was the first single she released in 1981. Ono and John Lennon concluded the recording of the song on December 8, 1980. It was upon their return from the recording studio to The Dakota (their home in New York City) that Lennon was murdered by a deranged fan. John had stayed up all night the preceding weekend listening to a preliminary mix of the song, and passed away clutching a final mix of it in his hands. Lennon's lead guitarwork on the track, which he had recorded that day, and praised by many as the most fascinating of his career, was thus his final creative act. At the end of January 1981, "Walking on Thin Ice" was released as a single and became Ono's first chart success, peaking at No. 58 and gaining major underground airplay. The single was released in February 1981 in the UK and reached number 35 on the chart.

The lyrics talk of the unpredictability of life and death -- of "throwing the dice in the air" -- and reach the conclusion, "when our hearts return to ashes, it will be just a story....". With the world in shock, a new poignancy was added to the already haunting yet highly danceable track.

Buy the album Yoko Ono "Walking on Thin Ice" HERE

--Mr. Mark

Adventures In Amazonia, Part One: Chris Stamey

I have a friend who is sort of my movie counterpart. While I’m continually exploring the vast map of music and editing/revising my ever growing album collection, he is doing the same, but with his huge DVD collection. The glowing difference between us is that while I prefer digging through used binds, thrift stores, and pawn shops for great deals, he prefers to buy things new. Since he tends to enjoy films that have limited releases, it would make sense that he would make a lot of his purchases online.

That being said, sometime last year he began making a lot of purchases from Amazon.com, and enjoyed much success in doing so. He was so pleased with his Amazon savings that he practically became a spokesperson for the site, and he quickly sacrificed the convenience of buying something from a mega-store like Best Buy or Fry’s, opting instead to just order it off of Amazon. For me, the act of searching for a good deal is just as important as the satisfaction of the purchase itself, so initially, I was fundamentally against Amazon. The more I explored the site, the more I realized that it had little to offer me, due mostly to the fact that (when you factor in the shipping cost) I could find better deals in my day to day thrifting.

When I recently revisited the site, I made a few purchases, 3 albums that cost a total of $6.50, but when you factored in the shipping, came out to about $14.00. I was sure that I could find better deals if I just searched a little harder. I began looking through my collection of Mp3's at all of the stuff that I had downloaded over the last year or two. I looked up a lot of albums based on a track here or there, and cross-referenced it with info that I found on Allmusic.com. I ended up making 3 purchases that added up to a total of $0.95, plus shipping.

The first album I received was Chris Stamey’s "Fireworks" which was actually shipped from Austin, where I live, not from a record store or anything, but from an independent distributor off of 19th Street.


Stamey first came to my attention through the amazing mp3 site, Little Hits, which posted his 1977 single, "The Summer Sun." I’ve included that single in this post because not only is it the inspiration for my purchase, but it’s also a pretty incredible Power-Pop song.

Stamey went to college in North Carolina and formed the Sneakers, and after starting his own Label in New York, Car Records, helped form the Jangle Pop band, the dBs. After leaving the dBs, Stamey released several solo albums including "Fireworks" (originally recorded in 1988, but not released until 1991), which I purchased unopened for $0.84, plus shipping.

The Verdict: At first, I thought certain tracks on the album sounded a bit dated, but it has grown on me considerably in the last week or so. The first blast of vocals on the opening cut, "Company of Light," instantly warmed my ears with it’s familiar dreamy twang, and the intricate lyrics of that song have endeared it to me even more. "Glorious Delusion" is absolutely gorgeous and is reminiscent of so much modern Indie Pop. "Two Places At Once" is characteristic of the whole album, deceivingly simple Pop Rock that’s as "radio-ready" as it comes, right down to the huge chorus. There’s nothing particular groundbreaking about "Fireworks," but in it’s own way, it is very comforting, and it has gone a long way in revealing to me how truly unadventurous something like the Mountain Goats is, which isn’t necessarily bad thing mind you.

From "Fireworks" (Buy It)

Company of Light (mp3)
Glorious Delusion (mp3)
Two Places At Once (mp3)

Bonus:

The Summer Sun (mp3) (1977)

–Popkoff

I Was Born, Lucky Me

It so funny (& nice) to see Mark E. Smith looking so young in this video.



The Fall -- Victoria (mp3)






The Kinks -- Victoria (mp3)

Return to Forever

My last post in OPEN HOUSE was made almost 5 MONTHS AGO! The time was spent; working late hours and sleeping all hours of the day, there was a lot of dinner parties, getting great Christmas gifts from my friends, too many lazy winter days sipping lattes being induced into a sugar coma, probobly too much Korean food, and long hours listening to great music procastinating. That being said, I decided in order to ease back into the "making frequent posts mode" that I would make a mix sharing some of my favorite tracks from the past few months and right now.

Artists include: Claude Von Stroke, Magda, Ritchie Hawtin, Heartthrob, Marnie, Cosi Josias, and many more.

Download DJ SET HERE


---Mr. Mark


Oh and Happy April Fool's Day!